This is a very cool story, from Ynet, about Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Lew Alcindor) whose father helped liberate the Buchenwald extermination camp in World War II and personally saved a future prominent rabbi of Israel.
Now, the famous son, a Muslim convert no less, is going to make a movie about his dad and his 761st Tank Battalion’s help at Buchenwald. That should shake up the Holocaust-denying mullahs and jihadis.
Watch your back, Kareem.
Via Elder of Ziyon.
Putting a prayer paper in the Western Wall, the Kotel, in Jerusalem.
It was for Russ Wheat, an old Army buddy in Texas, who wanted to memorialize the men of his platoon who were killed in action in Vietnam.
His request for me to do this while on my trip to Israel is interesting.
It underscores the fact that even non-Jews (Russ, who lives in Canyon Lake near San Antonio, is a church-going Methodist) still see religious significance in the Temple Mount.
Because of, at the least, the destroyed Herod’s Temple of the Jews.
(The photo is lopsided because the photographer was trying to be surreptitious about it. It was the sabbath and the Kotel-controlling Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) forbid photographs on the sabbath.)
And where do all these pieces of paper eventually wind up? See here.
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Posted in Israel, The War, Troops, Viet Nam
Tagged Jerusalem, the Kotel, Vietnam combat veterans, Western Wall of the Temple Mount
It seems to me that Israel’s new “Iron Dome” short-range rocket interceptor will have the same problem that the American Patriot system does.
It nails the approaching rocket, true, and that’s impressive. But the explosion scatters fragments of the interceptor and the incoming rocket all over the place, some big enough to cause serious damage to people and other living things.
If they scatter on Gaza, from whence the rockets come, that’s one thing. If they scatter on the Israeli town that’s the target, or points in between, well…
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Posted in Israel, Science/Engineering, The War, Troops
Tagged Iron Dome, Israel, patriot, rocket interceptors
Snoopy says the Rehovot area is enduring its first major Khamsin wind of the year.
It’s sunny and a scorching 97 degrees F there at 1 p.m. and forecast to reach 101. Then (“…as it is mysteriously traditional on Passover”) to fall back into the 70s daily tomorrow with overnight lows in the 50s through Friday.
These wildflowers on the Golan Heights this time of year remind me how much alike the Texas hill country and Israel are, because we’re approximately on the same latitude and our climates are similar. Our wildflowers also are coming out all over, and although it’s getting steadily warmer, an occasional cold front still blows through every now and then.
The Golan’s wind was icy on March 29, when we spent the night up there in a Moshav’s (religious community’s) B&B. The overhead lights in my unit quit late in the evening, but the room heaters kept working. Thankfully.
It was like the Davis Mountains of West Texas, except that the Golan is a three thousand feet higher in elevation than the rest of Israel. The Davis Mountains, which are suffering wild fires this spring due to our severe drought, are between five and six thousand feet above sea level.
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Posted in Israel, Texana, Weather/Climate
Tagged Golan Heights, Israel, Jeff Davis Mountains, spring cold fronts, Texas, wildflowers
One thing that held my attention when I was in Israel was the way cars, even cars and pedestrians, at times played a brand of slow-motion chicken that usually had me wondering who would hit who first.
Nobody did. Not while I was watching. But a few came close. You’d never know that pedestrians have the right of way, or that cars entering a traffic circle (called a “roundabout” in Brit speak) are supposed to let the folks already in the circle go first. Sometimes they do. Sometimes they don’t. Depends on who chickens out.
Even this travel site acknowledges the situation, somewhat: “Israeli drivers have little if any patience and the driving culture can be referred to as wild.”
I came home thinking, yeah, I could rent a car and drive there. But I might want to practice rolling-stops first. And gut up for playing chicken.
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Tagged cars and pedestrians, Israel traffic, traffic circles
The chicken is usually grilled. The salads are enormous. Together they constitute what seems to be the national dish of Israel. You can get steak, of course, from Golan Heights herds, and fish from the Red Sea. But chicken and salad are more common.
And when I say salad, I don’t mean lettuce. It’s available, sure, but more common is a mound of diced cucumbers, tomatoes, onions and parsley. A heaping mound. Pita bread and humus. A scoop of tahini in the middle of the humus ring. Mineral water. Diet coke. Cafe botz, or espresso. Yummy stuff, I tell you.
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Tagged chick and salad, Israeli national meal
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 